HIST 3822 3 credits/Spring 2000 Tues/Thurs 2:00-3:15 PM 2-213 Carlson

Professor Erika Lee 778 Social Sciences Tower Office Hours: Tues/Thurs 11-12 tel: 612-624-9569 erikalee@tc.umn.edu

 
 

DISCUSSION:

2/1: JOHN D'EMILIO, "THE COMMUNIST MENACE"
1. How were the characterizations of communists and homosexuals conflated?
2. Why were homosexuals considered a threat to government service?
3. Why did the 1950s witness an intensification of anti-gay activity? How is it connected to both international and domestic containment as well as changing expressions of sexuality, gender roles, and family?
4. What were the effects on homosexuals?


2/3 Discussion Questions for Elaine Tyler May,
Homeward Bound Chapters 1-4

1. Why did postwar Americans turn to marriage and parenthood with such enthusiasm and commitment? Why were Americans "homeward bound?" What did it mean to be "homeward bound?" in the 1950s? Was it the same for all racial and ethnic groups? (introduction, ch. 1)

2. The Great Depression of the 1930s and the Second World War during the1940s brought widespread challenges to traditional gender roles. What were these changes? Why did the employment of women during the war create ambivalence? Why were these changes only temporary? (chapters 2-3)

3. What are some popular conceptions of the 1950s family today? According to May, did the American middle class family of the 1950s represent an ideal or reality? Was it a true representative of the "traditional family" or was it something rather new? (introduction, ch. 1)

4. What does the term "domestic containment" mean? What needed to be contained in the home and how was it to be achieved? How was "containment" different for men vs. women? What was the connection between sexuality and the insecurities of the Cold War? (introduction, ch. 1, 4)

5. Why and how were racial and class differences among Americans downplayed during the early cold war (1950s?) What did it mean that class lines were blurred while racial lines were sharpened during the 1950s? (introduction, ch. 1)

6. While the GI Bill brought 6M men into college and vocational schools, college enrollments increased for women as well. What type of education did these women receive and how does it relate to the larger themes of "domestic containment" and "homeward bound?" How did homemaking duties become linked to civic duty (especially in civil defense?) (chapters 3, 4)


Anne Moody's Coming of Age in Mississippi

Describe the system of white racial supremacy - economically, politically, culturally - in Mississippi.

How does white supremacy affect gender relations among and between the black and white communities?

What is the role of African Americans in the system of Jim Crow? What does Anne mean when she describes the "sympathetic relationship between older Negroes and whites?" (p. 109)

How is whiteness and blackness defined and enforced in Mississippi? How are the lines between the two sometimes blurred? What are some of the privileges of whiteness? Do they still exist today?

Describe Anne's awakening to racial inequality? What are some of the incidents in childhood that spark her consciousness?

Why was the NAACP a secret? What were the repercussions of civil rights activism?

How does Anne test the racial hierarchy in her own life before joining the Movement? What is the reaction of her family and her employers?

How did whites respond to civil rights activism of African Americans during the 1950s and 1960s? What were the motivations behind such responses?

How did African Americans in Mississippi respond in varying degrees to groups like SNCC and the voter education project? How did class, generation, and gender affect their response? Do women assume leadership roles and if so, what are they?

What role did the federal government play in conflicts between civil rights organizations and local communities? How did this affect movement strategies?

After the 1963 assassination of Medgar Evers, Anne Moody fails to convince some high school students to join in a protest rally. She writes, "I felt sick, I got so mad at them. How could Negroes be so pitiful?..." (p. 277) Why is Moody frustrated? Is the apathy of the students justifiable?

What are the psychological costs of racial deference and racial violence for Moody and other movement activists?

Anne Moody attended the August 28, 1963 March on Washington. "I sat on the grass and listened to the speakers, to discover we had 'dreamers' instead of leaders leading us...I sat there thinking that in Canton we never had time to sleep, much less dream." (307) How does this contradict Americans' popular memory and celebration of the March and MLK, Jr's speech?

Anne Moody eventually changes her view on traditional civil rights strategies such as nonviolence and voting rights. Why? What alternatives does she suggest? How does this change in thinking parallel the broader ideological transformation focusing on black power among many movement workers?

In the final scene of Coming of Age in Mississippi, Anne is on a bus headed for Washington, DC. Around her, men and women are singing "We Shall Overcome." She hears the words and thinks to herself, "I WONDER. I really WONDER." Why does the book end this way? What is she trying to convey to her readers? Did the movement achieve all of its goals?

3/16 Vietnam War Discussion Questions/Michael Herr, Dispatches

PERSONAL ACCOUNTS
Read packet of letters and first-person accounts handed out in class:
What are the authoršs attitudes about the war?
How does the war affect them?
Why are they there?
What are they fighting for?
Whose war is it?
How did attitudes about the war/experiences differ according to race and gender? How do these personal accounts compare with the soldiers in Dispatches?
Find specific passages from each document to illustrate your points

"GOOKISM"/MY LAI
Read/review the accounts of the My Lai massacre and review Dispatches
What is "gookism?"
Who are the "gooks" in Dispatches?
Why and how does "gookism" become unofficial military policy?
Ron Ridenhour writes that "The world is filled with gooks." What does he mean? How does he use "gook" broadly?
How did atrocities like My Lai happen? Do you think it was an isolated occurrence? Find specific passages from the documents to illustrate your points

DISPATCHES

HERR
What kind of war does Herr want his readers to imagine?
What is his focus, his choice of characters, narrative, and language?
How does he explain his role as a journalist in Vietnam?
How did being a journalist affect the ways in which he experienced the war?

THE WAR
Why was the U.S. in Vietnam according to Herr; according to the soldiers; military leadership? (Breathing In)
How is the U.S. faring in the war according to soldiers/journalists/military leadership (throughout book)

THE SOLDIERS
What causes the disillusionment that seems to be rampant among Herršs soldiers?
How does the war create an environment of dehumanization for both Americans and Vietnamese?
How do they cope with some of the contradictions and horrors of war?
What is the significance of the "charmed grunt?"
Why do some sign up for more duty?